Rogers Cup Round 8 Wrap

We are at Round 8 already, which means we are now at the half-way point, our Rogers Cup side has seen many new faces/debutants and they haven’t missed a beat, sitting on top of the ladder without a defeat. Bring on Subiaco at Leederville and while they put up a good fight early, like all previous teams they were slowly but surely taken out of the contest by the skill and speed of our Falcons.

After a 9.10 (64) to 2.6 (18) result West Perth head into the second half of the season maintaining the top spot at least two games clear.

The game was a good early contest, with West Perth scoring a couple of early points, with Paige Dodunski using her pace inside the forward 50, dishing out to others and it was her that created the first goal getting to Elli van den Broeke.

Mia Robis playing in the midfield was also very active early and had great pace and agility to be able clear out of the congestion. After multiple stoppages in the forward line, Hayley Bidefeld was able to clear and with a high kick to the goal square where Kyra Abbott was able to mark overhead, running away, she then kicked truly for the Falcons second.

At the other end Amber Rundle easily repelled Subiaco’s first real drive forward with her usual composure and run to get outside 50.

West Perth held sway for most of quarter converting twice, late in the quarter Subiaco’s foray forward only resulted with 2 points.

Kaitlyn Roper was also prominent throughout the quarter using her strength in the packs to keep and drive the ball forward, while Chloe Smoker was supporting Amber well holding strong across halfback.

West Perth then had the first second quarter entry and with a good intercept by Olivia Bonsack at the top of the 50-metre arc and subsequent stoppage allowed Hayley Bidefeld to again run on to loose ball and snap, this time kicking the goal herself.

Subiaco through weight of numbers was able to get ball over the back for their forward to simply tap kick for first goal from goal square. The next several minutes was a patch of scrambly football, Jekylah Garlett was able to sneak forward and kick a long goal.

Subiaco looked to be running into an open goal until Kaitlyn Roper showed her pace to run the Lions forward down and keep the Falcons lead to 20 points at the halftime break.

Upon the restart and after a couple of Falcon inside 50's, Subiaco were able to work forward, and a long dribbling kick went through for a goal to reduce the margin to 14 points. West Perth seemed flat footed for most of the quarter as Subiaco were able to hold the ball in their half of the field, Leuca Krmpotic was a thorn in the Lions side as she was winning taps and taking defensive marks across half back. The clear play of the day was when Abbey Brimson put on a strong tackle just off the back of square, a 50-metre penalty was given and with no one standing the mark, Abbey had the presence of mind to sprint off, kick to a 2 on I in West Perth’s favour, where Hayley Bidefeld marked and turned to run in and kick her second.

After the last break West Perth came out firing the trademark intensity was back.

Elli van den Broeke kicked her second with great use of body in goal square to take strong mark and goal.

Ella Feist won a ground ball on the wing, and with a great shepherd from Chloe Smoker allowed her to kick long into the 50, which Chloe Shearing was able to add to her impressive tally.

In defence, if it wasn't Jekylah marking it was Zara Deschamps and if not her it was Chloe Smoker, and they all resulted in repetitive intercepts and from those started the Falcon attacks.

When Leuca and then Molly Conroy goaled to put the icing on a solid game, where it was West Perth’s skill and ability to run out games through better fitness that gave them a clear advantage in the end.